Why did I risk my privacy with home DNA testing? I blame my Neanderthal heritage | Arwa Mahdawi

DIY genetics testing is a growth industry. But I probably didn't need it to tell me I'll never be an elite athlete. And then there are the security implications "

I have made a terrible mistake. I have sold all my DNA on the internet. Actually, it's worse than that: I recently paid a not-insignificant sum to a technology company that could decide to sell my DNA on the internet.

Why did I do this? Well, embarrassing as it is to admit, I did it because all my friends did. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing is all the rage these days and many a millennial gathering seems to include a discussion about your 23andMe or Ancestry.com test results - at least in the US, anyway, where the technology is most popular. The DIY DNA industry entered the mainstream last year and is projected to grow rapidly. Industry estimates suggest that roughly 1 in 25 adult Americans now have access to their genetic data.